title: Where philosophy meets clinical science.
abstract: Nowadays, there is a renewed interest in bone changes in experimental and clinical nephrology. However, the need for understanding the peculiarity of bone can be traced back to the 5th century BC, when Empedocles of Acragas put forward a theory of a world made of air, water, fire, and earth governed by love and hate. By observing the various body tissues, he strove to demonstrate that they consisted of 4 elements assembled with different mathematical ratios (logos). Blood is considered the most perfect tissue, because the ratio between elements is one. Bone is a very unusual tissue because it is made of 2 parts of earth, 2 parts of water, and 4 parts of fire. This kind of reasoning could be considered the first cry in the birth of quantitative chemistry.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Chair of Nephrology, Second University of Naples, Naples, Italy. nataleg.desanto@unina2.it
authors.forename: Natale Gaspare
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: De Santo
authors.forename: Rosa Maria
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: De Santo
authors.forename: Alessandra F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Perna
authors.forename: Carmela
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bisaccia
authors.forename: Rado
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pišot
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cirillo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015519:Bone Density; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000266:history* / Q000473:pathology*